Christmas Future
by thecolouryes
Summary: The kids we know Connor and Abby will have one day are just like their parents. Sharing their Christmas wishlists with friends is a little unusual.
1. Steven Temple, age 8

**Christmas Future**

**A Primeval Humour/Family Fanfic**

**Summary:  
**_**The kids we know Connor and Abby will have one day are just like their parents. Sharing their Christmas wishlists with friends is a little unusual.**_

**Rated K+ for PG-appropriate references.**

**Disclaimer: Technically speaking, Steven, Kayla, and Nathan, as well as Max, Maria, Sam, and Julia, belong to me. Abby and Connor still belong to Impossible Pictures. Compsognathus is a real dinosaur, discovered first in Germany and then France. **

**A/N: Yet **_**another**_** Christmas fic! I'm really going all-out here. I blame it on the fact that I'm **_**finally**_** home for the holidays and have tons of time on my hands in which to write! This is a collection of short one-shot-like stories, each around 300-400 words, that are connected by a common theme. I hope you enjoy!**

**By the way, my information about Compsognathus (which I can just imagine the **_**adorable**_** little Steven Temple saying in the **_**cutest**_** little kid voice...) comes from Wikipedia. There's only very limited stuff in here, I know, but really the dinosaur itself wasn't as important as the idea of the dinosaur.**

**Chapter One: Steven Temple, age 8 (290 words)**

"What did you ask Santa for?" his best friend Max asks. Steven knows his parents told him Never Tell Anyone What We Do, but telling Max what he wants for Christmas isn't the same as telling him what his parents do, right? It's not like he's asking for an _Anomaly_ or something.

"A dinosaur," Steven says. Max waits like he thinks Steven is going to get more specific, like 'the plastic dinosaur that talks in that commercial on the telly,' but Steven doesn't say anything else.

"What kind of dinosaur?" Max has to ask.

"A Compsognathus," Steven answers, taking his time though the tough name. "Mummy showed me one once. They're really cool. They're furry and have this really cool striped tail."

"But why do you want just a plain old dinosaur? They're boring. You should have asked for that talking one that's on the telly."

"It's not just a plain old dinosaur, though! It's a _real, live dinosaur_." Max looks at Steven with a very funny look.

"Come off it, you can't get a _real_ dinosaur for Christmas," he says. "They're all dead."

"No, they're not!" Steven protests.

"Yes, they are!" Max and Steven's argument draws in Steven's mother. He runs to her for reassurance that he's right.

"Mummy, Max said the dinosaurs are all dead," he tells her.

"He's right," she says, giving him a hug for comfort. "There aren't any dinosaurs alive today."

Steven is about to protest, but he's noticed that she has on her I Know I'm Telling A Lie But I Have To Because Other People Can't Find Out face. "Okay," he says sadly. "But what about my Christmas present?"

"I'll talk about that later," she says. "Would you boys like some hot chocolate?"


	2. Kayla Temple, age 12

**Christmas Future**

**Disclaimer: Technically speaking, Steven, Kayla, and Nathan, as well as Max, Maria, Sam, and Julia, belong to me. Abby and Connor still belong to Impossible Pictures. Compsognathus is a real dinosaur, discovered first in Germany and then France.**

**A/N: This one I'm least proud of, of the four chapters, but I still like it. I think I made Kayla's character a little too old, and Steven's character a little too young, is all.**

**Also, all three children are named after important characters no longer with us after series 3. I dare you to guess who Kayla and Nathan are (maybe it's not actually that difficult).**

**Chapter Two: Kayla Temple, age 12 (402 words)**

"What's the most ridiculous thing you've ever asked for for Christmas?" Maria asks. Kayla is at her house, helping her trim the tree, but they finished an hour ago. Kayla _has_ called her parents, but they told her they were 'busy with work stuff,' and Maria's parents invited her to stay for supper, so she's staying at Maria's house for another while.

Kayla thinks about the question and blushes, remembering a wealth of ridiculous wishes. "One year, I asked for a sabre-tooth kitten," she admits.

"Why on Earth…?"

"I always wanted a kitten, and they seemed so cool," Kayla explains. Maria might have found this odd, except for the fact that Kayla's whole family seemed more than a little odd, and all obsessed – to varying degrees, but still obsessed – with ancient monsters. "Then, I found out how deadly they really are and changed my mind," Kayla continues, leaving out the part about her first-hand experience with one.

"You are so weird," Maria teases. "What did you ask for next, a dinosaur?"

"Actually," Kayla begins. Maria raises her eyebrows. "What? Wouldn't it be cool to have a Pteranodon that could fly you places?"

Maria shakes her head. "Your whole family is so obsessed with monsters," she says.

"That's not true!" Kayla protests.

"It is, too! And you know it. The most ridiculous thing anyone in _my_ family has ever asked for is a trip to Antarctica, and that was just because Sam really liked penguins, and he was six. But _everyone_ in your family has probably asked for at least _some_ type of prehistoric something every year!"

"That's not true either!" Kayla retorts. "My mum asked for a new hair drier this year."

Maria raises her eyebrows again. "Probably to fend off the dinosaurs," she mutters.

"No," Kayla says, but it's feeble: her dad has, once again, stolen her Mum's hair drier to make a robot. "Anyway, that's not the point."

"No?" Maria asks. "Then what _is_ the point?"

Kayla thinks about this for a moment. "I… don't know."

"See?"

"Oh, come off it, Maria, I'm sure you have asked for some crazy things."

"Nothing _nearly_ as crazy as a sabre-toothed tiger!"

"That was one time! And I was seven!"

"Supper's ready, girls!" Maria's mum calls. The two friends look at each other.

"I asked for a unicorn once," Maria admits. Kayla laughs.

"See, we all have our crazy wishes."


	3. Nathan Temple, age 15

**Christmas Future**

**Disclaimer: Technically speaking, Steven, Kayla, and Nathan, as well as Max, Maria, Sam, and Julia, belong to me. Abby and Connor still belong to Impossible Pictures. Compsognathus is a real dinosaur, discovered first in Germany and then France.**

**A/N: Nathan... originally, he was going to be more like Abby than Connor, but I decided to settle on a solid middle ground. At least he's not **_**as**_** stupid, in regards to women, as his father.**

**Chapter Three: Nathan Temple, age 15 (445 words)**

"Why won't you tell me what you want for Christmas?" Julia asks. "I don't feel like your proper mate, not getting you anything, but you haven't given me the slightest idea what you want."

"You'd laugh at me," Nathan admits, a blush tingeing his cheeks. Julia laughs.

"I'm sure it can't be _that_ ridiculous," she replies. Nathan shakes his head.

"_I'm_ sure it can, and this is _me_ we're talking about."

"How does it being you change anything?" Nathan stares at her incredulously.

"Have you not _met_ my family?" he asks.

"Well, yes," she answers. "But I don't see how that has to anything to do with anything."

"Let's see," Nathan says, as though honestly curious as to why anyone would think _his_ family, of all families, insane. "Steven wants a live Compsognathus for Christmas. Kayla wants a Pteranodon so she doesn't have to rely on Mum or Dad driving her places, or public transportation. My mum wants another hair drier, because Dad stole her twenty-third one – yes, she's kept track that long – to make yet another robot. He wants technology that won't be created for another hundred years or so, assuming his latest guess is correct. No, none of those seem _remotely_ crazy. I can see why you expect my gift to be normal amidst all of that."

Julia smiles. "Well, someone has to keep the relative sanity of your family, don't they?"

"I guess so," Nathan agrees. "As a matter of fact, I think my parents are secretly disappointed I didn't ask for a dinosaur or sabre-tooth or anything."

"Who's asked for a sabre-tooth?"

"That would be Kayla," Nathan answers with a smile. "She wanted a kitten, but instead of simply asking for a kitten – like one would in a normal family – she just _had_ to ask for a sabre-tooth kitten. Of course."

"I think it's cute," Julia says.

"Oh, wonderful," Nathan replies sarcastically. "Kayla gets off for being insane because she's _cute_. Lovely."

"Steven's cute, too."

"Oh, even better! I'm the only one who's not cute. _I'm_ the only one who has to deal with the full-force blow of people thinking I'm insane," Nathan rants, really more disappointed than his sarcastic tone makes him appear.

"I think you're very cute," Julia says, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And I know _exactly _what to get you, but I have to go fix it up. See you!" She gives him a one-armed hug as she gathers her things and then leaves.

Nathan stares after her, his face reddened in a blush, thinking that he might just go to his mother for girl help this time.


	4. The Temple Family

**Christmas Future**

**Disclaimer: Technically speaking, Steven, Kayla, and Nathan, as well as Max, Maria, Sam, and Julia, belong to me. Abby and Connor still belong to Impossible Pictures. Compsognathus is a real dinosaur, discovered first in Germany and then France.**

**A/N: This one's my favourite, even though nothing **_**really**_** happens in it, and it's not about one of the kids. I just find the idea of the story referenced in it hilarious. Maybe I'll write it for next year. Don't want to waste all of my inspirations EVER on this year. That'd be bad.**

**Chapter Four: The Temple Family (236 words)**

The Anomaly must have appeared some time in the wee hours of the morning. Abby deduces this simply by the fact that Connor didn't come running up to their bedroom with the information that an Anomaly had appeared in their living room during his many trips back and forth with presents.

It's placed at possibly the most inopportune location in the room: directly in front of the tree. Despite the massive size of the tree, it seems nearly impossible to get around the Anomaly, to the presents under the tree. In fact, if anyone tries to get to the presents, they will probably be sucked through.

"Someone's going to have to go through to see if any of the presents got sucked through before we close it," Abby says. Her three kids turn to her, and she turns to Connor.

To everyone's surprise – except his – he bursts into raucous laughter. He's thinking of a similar event, a long time ago now, when he and Abby were only recently together. When he quiets down a bit, he turns to her, and asks, "Do you remember the other time this happened?"

She stares blankly.

"In your flat, years ago, and the lingerie…"

Abby put her head in her hands. "Next time, let the future-creature keep my present and promise you'll buy me another. Getting covered in unidentifiable slime is _not_ how I want to start my Christmas."


End file.
